Sovereign Syndicate (2024)

Successful application of the Disco Elysium recipe in an atmospheric setting. The story's conclusion should have been less rushed and more cohesive to provide a more complete experience.

Sovereign Syndicate is a decent first attempt from Crimson Herring Studios. The setting and characters alone make it worth playing, especially considering the price. The game would have benefited from a tighter narrative and a more fleshed-out Tarot card system. Here’s hoping that the game does well enough so that the devs can implement partial voice acting (at least) and learn from its shortcomings to make an improved sequel.

If you're looking for a game that follows in the footsteps of Disco Elysium, Sovereign Syndicate is a good choice. With its steampunk London, colourful characters and intriguing story, it is a good book, I mean, game.

Sovereign Syndicate does something impossible: it makes the notion of an urban fantasy Victorian England with Jack The Ripper boring and tedious. Visually impressive, narratively godawful, this is one tour through Whitechapel you can safely skip.

There’s a lot I like about Sovereign Syndicate. I like how it steers away from combat in favour of dialogue and decisions. I like its characters and its world. But there are chunks of the game that don’t quite work for me, from the levelling and skill checks which feel disconnected from everything else, to the final chapters of the story that struggle to bring our heroes together in a satisfying way. When it’s all working right, the story is absorbing and the world is fascinating. When it isn’t working right, the text becomes hard to parse and the sensation that Sovereign Syndicate is more like a book with mild interaction floats back to the surface.